28 December 2009

It recently occurred to me that the B side of this 45 hasn't been posted anywhere yet ( I don't think..) One of my all time favorite UK powerpop singles.

The Jets released their lone record in November of 1979, further proving that Decca records could pick great punk/powerpop singles for their label while at the same time through terrible distribution and promotion allow those records to disappear into thin air. This 45 is pretty scarce and demo/promo copies seem to turn up more frequently than stock copies leading me to believe that very few of these singles actually hit the stores.Both Faulkes and Craig were also in the band Stagefright in the mid 1970's.

Band members were:

John A. Faulkes - (guitar/vocals)

Michael Rigg- ( bass/vocals)

Ian Craig- ( drums/ vocals)

Collin McCourt and Don Gould share the production credits.

P.S. --- Recently we've been getting some emails from bands who have seen their records posted on this blog. If you were in this group or have any knowledge of the members current whereabouts please drop us a line at info@singsingrecords.com. We would love to hear from you!

17 December 2009

Picking up from where Jeremy’s last entry left off, I thought I’d post the single by Skogie that I briefly reviewed in Brain Lapse.

If you know me, you know my main collecting jones outside of power pop is independent, pre-punk pop and rock singles from the early-to-mid-70s. Records by the likes of the Boyz, Amnesia, Marbles and Fans that reveal the existence of a vital and vibrant rock underground that stands in contrast to typical ‘77 Year Zero orthodoxy and, in some ways, surpasses the latter style with greater levels of inventiveness and sophistication.

Active on the local Twin Cities’ live circuit since at least the beginning of the decade, Skogie sound like nothing so much as new wave fully formed and four years early. Both sides of their lone single are pleasing pop amalgams, mixing together shades of Roxy Music, the Raspberries, art rock and bubblegum with lyrics in a light-hearted 10cc vein. The band shared the same management as future Titan! stars, the Boys, and later recorded an album that, while, not equaling the quality of their single is still enjoyable, especially for ARP synthesizer fans. The band, which included Demi Moore’s first husband, Fred, relocated to Los Angeles by the end of the decade, changed their name to Nu Kats and released a series of records on Rhino before splitting in 1982.

13 December 2009

Just got back prom Paris yesterday and I picked up some great singles while I was over there. This 45 from Benny Blue is totally top notch! The A side sounds glitter band-ish with a really great phasing guitar line. B side ( Made Cap?) is a total Plastic Bertrand one off played at breakneck speed. According to Brain Lapse magazine Benny Blue has an LP out as well but I haven't heard it. Also, if you're record shopping in Paris I highly recommend stopping by Plus De Bruit they had really great stuff and the prices were fair.

18 November 2009

The 'One & One Is Two' single has been a top want of my girlfriend for a couple years. It's been on sale over on the LDK site for quite a while but we both agreed it was a bit out of our price range. Saved eBay searches and constant internet browsing never materialized another copy so I after a year of waiting I broke down an bought it for her birthday.

Here's what LDK had to say:Revolver were actually a band called Black Maria, popular on the Merseyside circuit and with one of future Liverpool 'new-psych'-ers The Cherry Boys in the ranks, who were rechristened Revolver for this Lennon/McCartney-covers project in 1979. There's a whole LP of this stuff, snappily called "Northern Songs" - this one's probably pretty representative of Revolver's ouevre.

Take a listen to 'One & One Is Two' and you'll understand when I say that I was a little reluctant to give this gift, but as luck would have it, not one week later, my friend Atsushi gave me the 'Northern Songs' LP as a gift!! Not only does include both songs from the single but 15 more Lennon/McCartney penned tunes that they never actually recorded themselves, plus great liner notes and a cool 2-panel insert. Definitely worth tracking down.

Hailing from the Southhampton area, Straightshooter formed in 1976 and recorded their only 45 in April of 1979. This amazing two sider was pressed and privately released on the bands own "Strolling Bone" label in an edition of 500 copies.

Band members were:

Dom O' Riley- Guitar

Pete Luck- Vocals

Tony Ecclestone- Bass

Mike O'Riley- Drums

Rarely do we spill the beans about the upcoming releases here at Sing Sing. We try to keep our projects under wraps for as long as possible. We're gonna make an exception here and announce an official re-release of this record early next year. It's too good to keep secret!

And, as an extra treat, here's an interview we did with Richard and Tim....

Sing Sing (SS): Can you speak briefly about how you met and who your earliest influences in Cramp were?

Tim O'Hara (TO): I recall our first meeting at Declan's house in Queen's Park. I was not sure if Toadie was a genius or just plain mad! But after that, we used to rehearse in some weird places - Ray Kennedy's billiard hall and Nigel's dad's stockroom to name two. Our influences in Cramp were of course mainstream punk, the Pistols, Clash, etc. but we did do a rather nice reggae song, "Tribute", which Toadie will hopefully remember. We also liked the new wave stuff like Joe Jackson, the Buzzcocks and the Ruts.

Richard "Toadie" Todd (RT): It was a bit strange at first singing and jumping around in a garage in front of 3 complete strangers (I only knew Colin at first) but looking back I suppose that was pretty normal for me in every way!!

SS: When were your first lives shows, and can you describe them?

TO: The live gigs were quite something as I recall. Toadie was quite a presence on stage and knew how to entertain the punters - think Robbie Williams on lighter fuel! The occasional youngster would gob on us and there was a memorable night when a large scale fight broke out. There was also the day the Undertones (before they were famous) saw us in Spuds (a pub in Portstewart, long since gone) and asked Declan if we wanted to play in Derry at one of their gigs. Derry was of course a bit dangerous place for young Ulster Protestants so nothing came of it. How different things could have been!

RT: Yea, the Easter Monday and Boxing day gigs in Spuds Portstewart were always the best… 400 people crammed into a venue that could hold about 200!!

SS: Who were the other bands you would play shows with?

TO: Other bands at the time were Clive Culbertson's lot: No Sweat (later called The Sweat) and of course the Xdreamysts. I can't remember any others.

RT: Flying Squad gigs on a Thursday nights, again in Spuds, were always great. They later became known as Xdreamysts, a great bunch of guys!!

SS: How did you come in contact with Rip-Off / George Doherty?

RT: It was through Clive Culbertson that we met George...

TO: Yea, Clive Culbertson introduced us to Rip-Off Records. Clive's band had already got a deal with George and recommended us to him.

SS: Your single on Rip-Off credits George Doherty as producer. Can you speak about the experience in the studio with him?

RT: I can't remember too much about the recording except there was a lot of beer consumed!!

TO: I remember the recording sessions very well although it was Clive rather than George who did the actual recording. Great fun it was, although the facilities were quite basic. I seem to recall tins of McEwans helped Toadie’s vocal performance a lot! George and Clive did the mastering later. Some syndrums (quite novel at the time) were added at this stage and the members of the band were, as I recall, not overly keen on this! I had real trouble keeping my guitar in tune so if the tone sounds extra distorted, that's the real reason.

SS: Can you speak about the how was the single received? What kind of airplay, if any, did you get?

RT: I haven’t a clue… It didn’t seem to matter at the time!!

TO: Don't know how many copies were issued but we did sell enough to get one royalty payment! It got some airplay in Ulster and John Peel played it on Radio One. We had to pretend ‘She Doesn't Love Me’ was the A-side given the explicit lyrics of ‘Suzy Lie Down” - quite tame by today's standards. My mum loved it - fortunately, she never really listened to the lyrics.

SS: Beyond the two tracks released on your Rip-Off single, did you have any other material recorded, or plans for other releases?

TO: We did do a further recording of some other songs with Clive on his reel to reel recorder but I doubt they’re still in existence. We definitely recorded “Tribute” and “Belfast's Burning.” Don't know if Toadie can remember any others? There is quite a market, apparently, in Japan for retro punk/new wave of the era and Clive has his own studio so we may well do some re-recording in the near future if I can remember the chords!

SS: What was the end of Cramp like, and did you pursue any other musical projects??

RT: Believe it or not I went solo; just me and an Eko acoustic, singing many a crude song merged in with other stuff that I had written

TO: Yea, Toadie just decided he had had enough, that we had done all we were going to do and he was right. As I recall, he then did some solo gigs and performed such legendary songs, "I Live in a Pair of Underpants" and "The Boys They Call Her Polo".

Nigel and I played in Minor Classics after Cramp. We released one single Sign Language (you can hear it on http://www.myspace.com/1977records) and did record a number of other tracks at the studio at Templepatrick with a view to releasing an album but nothing came of it. We mostly did local gigs. I also did some gigs with a local artist, the very talented Joey Newcombe - just show-band type stuff; weddings and the like, but got the best money of my playing career by far!

01 November 2009

Here are the only 2 releases from the Dekalb IL. powerpop group BB and the Guns. After recently discovering these guys I had to know more so I tracked down founding member Ken Goodman and racked his brain about the band.

Band members were:

Rick Mosher- Guitar/vocals

Betsy Buenzow- Vocals

Ken Goodman- Keyboards

Rich Bell- Bass

Dave Briggs- Drums

How did you guys meet?

We all met in 1980 in the dorms of Northern Illinois Univ. We were all 18 years old. We put ads in the local paper for a drummer and bass player. Doug Davis answered our ad for a drummer. He was a frat boy, but we liked him because he had a great drum kit, a Cadillac Eldorado, and a rehearsal space in his frat house. All we had to do was play one or two parties per semester. And all the boys loved BB. Our first bass player, Rich Bell, was an older fellow who was kind of strange. He didn't talk much. We made him get a new wave haircut. He giggled a lot when he got stoned. We were all getting into punk and new wave. I was just getting out of REO, Journey, Styx, and Pure Prairie League. We started listening to Clash, Blondie, Sex Pistols, Gen X, OMD, Elvis Costello, Benatar, U2, and Josie Cotton. We were kind of outsiders in Dekalb IL, but there was a small group of artists and musicians that liked the same music, so it was kind of exciting and fun time.

Was it tough playing this sort of stuff in Dekalb IL?

It wasn't too hard being in a punk pand in Dekalb. There was even a bar in town that had "New Wave Night", where we all gathered every Wed night. We were mini-celebrities actually. All our bar gigs would get packed and the local radio stations played our singles quite a bit. We wore make-up to class and wore punk clothes. We didn't take ourselves too seriously. BB actually was going to NIU on a track scholarship.

who wrote the songs, and were there any other records on Spazz??

Rick and myself wrote all the songs and we did other punk/new wave covers. Spazz was my first label. Our two singles are the only releases. After Spazz, I started Pravda Records in 1984, which is still my full time job today. There is a small batch of BB songs unreleased that I have on a normal bias cassette.

Did you guys ever tour or play with any bigger touring bands?

We once opened for the Ramones at Haymakers in the Chicago suburbs. One guy stood right in front of me our entire set and was giving me the finger the whole time! I loved it! We also played with The Producers once and other regional bands I can't remember.

what became of the members of the group?

BB still lives near Dekalb IL and has 3 kids. She still sings and we're still in touch. I still play in a band with Rick called The New Duncan Imperials. We have been together 20 years and have toured the world and released many cds. Rich Bell, Doug Davis, Greg Balk, and Dave Briggs(former members) all disappeared into civilian life and have never re-surfaced as far as we know......

Formed in Welwyn Garden City in 1976 from the ashes of the hippy band Mask, this rather strangely named band was one of those cast of thousands destined to obscurity and the eternal gig circuit for one reason or another. It could have been so different if they had released their first single 'Back In Pissheadsville Again' on Raw Records. Lee Wood was interested after hearing the demo but it was not to be though he did end up releasing a couple of tracks from Welwyn's next punk band Acme Sewage Company.

Instead The Strangers ended up on Illegal re-recording and releasing the single a long time after the spark had gone. The original Pissheadsville is a stomping classic punk track that would hold its head on any punk compilation and other tracks on that initial demo suggest Television, Wire and The Now as similar melodic punk. You will have to make do with the Illegal Records version but its better than none. A second single Someone Else's Home was released in 78 on Bugle Records without Johnny but by then the band sounded completely different. They played all the usual venues - The Roxy, Vortex etc - and their name is at least immortalised on the back of the Farewell To The Roxy album as graffiti.

The Boyfriends were led by NYC powerpop pioneers Bobby Dee (ex-Poppees) and Paddy Williams: they put out a 45 on Bomp! in 1978, then got picked up by Malcolm McLaren... After Malcolm turned down some deals he probably shouldn't have (as did William Morris after that), the Boyfriends found themselves on their own. "Don't Want Nobody" was their irresistible (and stunningly noisy) debut on Bomp Records, who'd signed Bobby Dee's earlier band the Poppees, only to have them split into these Boyfriends and the Sorrows. They pressed up just 100 copies of their second 45 in 1981, whence "Wrapped Up in a Dream" is a handsome exploration of Paul McCartney's Wings-ier tendencies (one of power-pop's dark little secrets).(description and pressing quantity from Teenline, not sure how accurate it is, and it sounds more Stones-y that Wings-y to me)

Side note: The Boyfriends most powerful live song was probably "I Need Your Love" and although it was never released under the Boyfriends moniker you can hear the Ramones version on Subterranean Jungle.

24 October 2009

Bloomington, Indiana based, mixed gender quartet - three fellas and one lady - who may be the same group mentioned in the ACID ARCHIVES as having a later LP. If so, I haven’t seen it. A self-issued release, recorded at Home Grown Studios in beautiful Bloomington, IN; beyond that, not much in the way of details. Luckily for us, the A-side more than speaks for itself. A lovely, fuzz-drenched, mid-tempo rocker reminiscent of Shoes or maybe even the Sponsors, TELL ME epitomizes nearly everything worthwhile about private-press pop/rock. The singer-songwritery flip is excellent as well, but perhaps falls a bit outside this blog’s purview. Too good to be so unknown. Who was Ambush???!

14 October 2009

Third single from the Dutch band Rotjoch (who changed their name to Rebel).The single was released in 1982 on the VIP label and was re-issued the following year as Rebel (featuring Waldo) housed in a totally different picture sleeve. Neither song strays far stylistically from the 1981 " Bad Boy " LP though the production is slightly more upscale . The band continued to play as Rebel until 1985 and recorded demos for a second LP which never materialized.

29 September 2009

The career of Richi ray Harris - here simlpy credited as Richi Ray - began over ten years before this obscure, solo bow on the guitarist's own Ray-O imprint, Harris got his start playing guitar with legendary, lost San Francisco psych-garage band Freedom Highway and later played with an early 70's incarnation of Moby Grape. On his own here, Ray delivers two strong tracks which successfully marry the bubblegum pop of Jan & Dean to the harmony style of the Turtles and Beau Brummels; neither track exhibiting any influence of punk. One of the two songs, 'SHE SAYS" is the obvious stand out, recalling the late 60s Lou Christie if backed by the Byrds. An out-of- time pop gem - much like the single by Barry Knoedl - certain to delight fans of both Nerves and Neighb'rhood Childr'n alike. Ray later contributed a track to the local Rib label sampler, Hot Ribs, and is still playing today.

23 September 2009

One year after recording the single, the RPMs replaced drummer Rob Mccuen (who wrote the opening track of the LP)with James St. Patrick and headed into the studio to record a 10 track album that remains unreleased to this day. The band at the time of the recording consisted of

Denis Laing- Bass and Vocals

Brent Mireau- Guitar and Vocals

Jim Virgili- Lead Guitar

James St. Patrick- Drums and vocals

The songs on the record are totally on par with the single and as a whole this album is truly better than most Powerpop LP's of the time. COULDA' BEEN A HIT!!!

About Sing Sing

Sing Sing Records is a punk and power pop reissue label based in New York City. With so many great under-heard and under-appreciated bands, it'd be impossible to reissue everything; so this blogspot is a means to share some of our favorites. Take a look around, but be sure to visit our label's main website to see what we've got for sale!